Various forms of outboard carriers have been developed in attempts to solve on board storage of water skis and other like water recreational equipment such as knee boards, towropes, etc.
Several products have been developed that are used to carry water skis outboard of a boat hull. Often, such apparatus is permanently attached to the side or transom of the boat. This is an undesirable situation since the racks appear somewhat unsightly to boating enthusiasts and since they require boring or other machining process that will mar the external surface of the boat.
As a solution to the problem presented by permanent storage racks, various forms of removable racks have been developed. However, these racks, while gaining the advantage of removability, still incorporate certain disadvantages. For example, an outboard storage rack has been developed that is removably secured to the gunwale and hull by a number of suction cups. Suction cups, however, are not appropriate for mounting an outboard rack to a boat since the boat is constantly moving and bounding when in use. Such motion, coupled with the cantilevered weight of skis mounted to the rack, results in a possibility that the rack will slip from engagement with the boat and fall into the water, along with the skis mounted thereto. It has been found that suction cups placed in contact with the horizontal surfaces of a gunwale are not likely to maintain desirable holding characteristics as shear stress on the suction cups is too significant in many cases. Suction cups used to brace a ski rack against a boat hull, however, appear to be effective for this purpose since the suction cups in this orientation are placed primarily under constant tension or compression stresses in which the suction cups in general exhibit maximum holding strength.
Other forms of racks have been developed that utilize bracket mounts for attaching an inboard end of the rack to the gunwale of a boat and that include outward projecting support arms that are substantially cantilevered over the gunwale to receive water skis. This form of rack while providing ample forces for mounting the rack to the boat gunwale, produces dangerous amounts of stress through the cantilever nature of the outwardly projecting arms.
It therefore remains desirable to obtain some form of portable, removable rack that can be attached to a boat for the purpose of carrying items such as water skis and the like that can be securely mounted to a boat yet that will remain easily removable and that will carry skis or other equipment safely in close proximity to the boat hull.